'Family Guy' hits milestone 200th episode

By DANIEL MARLEY

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

One hundred episodes for a television show is an achievement in itself, but for a show to reach 200 is rare for any type of show.

"Family Guy," the adult cartoon show created by screenwriter Seth MacFarlane, aired its 200th episode Sunday on Fox (WJBK-Channel 2 in Detroit). Anyone who missed the episode can watch it on Monday Nov. 19 on Fox.com.

The show, which has a cast including actors Seth Green and Mila Kunis, aired its first episode after the Super Bowl on Jan. 31, 1999.

"Family Guy" had its trouble when it first started for its controversial content. During the first few years the show aired, it was in constant competition with other shows in the same time slot. The ratings slipped, and Fox canceled the show in February of 2002.

In the next three years, "Family Guy" developed a cult following, and the show came back in May 2005 and has been going strong since then.

The 200th episode begins with Brian, the Griffin family talking dog, using the time machine built by Stewie, the baby with an adult voice. Both of the characters are played by the show's creator MacFarlane.

Viewers know it's a common theme in the past couple seasons for Brian to use the time machine to get women to have sex with him.

After one of Brian's exploits, he tries to cover his tracks, and, in turn, the time machine explodes, which causes time to move in reverse. As Stewie and Brian view events now going in reverse, such as a backward chicken fight, they start to feel the effects of moving backwards themselves.

Now Stewie and Brian must race time to prevent the time reversal from being permanent.

Fans of the show will like the reverse action and comedy that come from everything moving backwards. Like other "Family Guy" episodes, a lot of the humor is sexual, gross or a parody of something. The humor in this episode, as in all "Family Guy" episodes, is more suited for an adult audience.

As with all "Family Guy" episodes, first time viewers can still enjoy and understand this one-- although longtime fans of the show may laugh a little more with scenes from old episodes popping up.

The name of this episode "Yug Ylimaf" (read it backwards) fits the content of the episode perfectly. The episode seems to play in to the cut away gag, parody and off-color humor that the show is known for and that fans of the show have come to love.